Growing Craze of Ketogenic Diet: Is it a Healthy Diet?

An Overview of Ketogenic Diet

There is a very good chance that you may have come across the ketogenic diet while looking for the suitable diet plan for weight loss. This diet is gaining popularity in the world of fitness. There are many people who have gotten quick results after following this diet. So, what exactly is the ketogenic diet?

The ketogenic diet is an extremely low-carbohydrate or no-carbohydrate diet, which forces the body to a ketosis state. Ketosis occurs in the body when a person consumes very less or no carbohydrate. The low level of carbohydrate in the body leads to a drop in the blood sugar level. These changes force the body to break down body fats to use it as a source of energy.

Ketosis is a mild ketoacidosis form, which commonly affects the type 1 diabetes patients. This form is a major cause of death among people suffering from diabetes under the age of 24. However, the experts believe that ketosis form is not necessarily harmful.

According to the study, ketosis diet is a safe and effective diet plan for significantly overweight and obese people. But, there are also cases of people gaining some of their lost weight within a year.

How Did the Keto Diet Manage to Get So Much Hype?

The idea of ketosis is not new at all, to be honest. This is just repackaged in a new sexy way. The Atkin Diet and the Dukan diet were some of the earlier versions of a ketogenic diet. The ketogenic diet is gaining popularity due to celebrity endorsements and viral social media posts. This diet is, however, different than many other low-carb diet plans.

How is the Keto Diet Helpful?

The ketogenic diet is helpful for people who are looking for a quick weight loss. There was a study conducted to find out the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet. This study included more than 19,000 dieters. These dieters experienced a rapid weight loss after adopting the ketogenic diet without any major side effects.

The dieters lost an average weight of 10 kilograms after following a keto diet. This diet is a very simple diet to follow. The major advantage of this diet is that people do not have to go through starvation to lose extra pounds.

Due to a high consumption of foods with healthy fats, it helps in keeping the people full for a long period of time. Despite the consumption of a fewer calories, people still have an adequate energy in their body to carry out normal day to day activities. It’s because keto diet excludes processed foods, which does no good for health.

And, keto diet also helps in maintaining the blood sugar level, which results in a stable flow of energy in the body. However, there are some cons of this diet. Here are some of the cons of the ketogenic diet.

It’s an extremely strict diet to follow.

This diet requires an adaption phase that could last up to 2 weeks, which is not very comfortable.

It is very hard to follow the diet plan at a restaurant or during social gatherings.

What to Expect From a Keto Diet

Keto diet is definitely a challenging diet to follow. In the very beginning, you will have a rocky start. It’s because your liver will start its function of converting fats into ketones for the purpose of using it as energy.

In the beginning, you could feel very uncomfortable because the body needs to get used to the new form of fuel. You may experience nausea, fatigue, foul breath, headaches, brain fog, sweat, and urine. The level of electrolyte also decreases when keto diet is followed, which reduces the water weight, making you feel crummy. This condition is also known as keto flu.

However, all the adverse effects of keto diet will start to disappear after a few days, as your brain will get used to running on ketones.

The Keto Diet Can be Unhealthy At Times

There are many fitness experts who believe in keto diet; however, there are also many dieticians who do not believe that keto diet is a healthy diet plan. According to those who oppose keto diet, they believe that the weight loss during the process of following keto diet is water weight at the beginning.

When the body is in ketosis state, there is a chance that it may start losing the muscle mass, which is not a healthy thing. This leads to extreme fatigue, which ultimately leads to starvation. These changes in the body could make weight loss much more difficult.

This diet may not be suitable for the people who are trying to build up some muscle mass. According to some experts, keto diet should only be followed under the clinical supervision.

Some experts suggest people follow this diet only in extreme cases. It is because this diet, when followed without caution, may lead to muscle and heart damage. The people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes could be benefited from keto diet, as it helps in a quick weight loss and insulin stability.

However, the major point to consider is that this diet is not helpful to keep the weight down in a long-term.

The problem with the general population is that they are using this diet for a cosmetic reason, which should not be how this diet should is used.

Final Thoughts

The “weight loss” topic is an extremely hot topic in the United States and also in many parts of the world. The statistic shows that more than 2 in 3 American adults are either overweight or obese. Plenty of weight loss products are promoted on the internet. Some of them are effective while many are not effective.

When it comes to losing weight without any adverse health effects, the proper diet plan and regular exercise are recommended to the people, instead of diet pills and other weight loss products. However, there are some best diet pills that can accelerate the weight loss process.

Talking about whether to follow the ketogenic diet or not, you should first see if this diet is right for you or not.

Even if you choose to opt for the ketogenic diet, you should not make it your long-term choice. Select some other diet plan later after ketogenic diet.

About the AuthorEvlin Symon

Evlin Symon is a freelance health writer from New Jersey. She enjoys learning about a wide variety of wellness issues and staying up-to-date on the latest research. She also is the author of many active blogs.